Encore 20 ga slugs

[shotgunner]

I got the 20 ga barrel set up today. I used the 209-50 forend, with spacers made of aluminum. I turned some round stock to .700 and drilled them to accept a 10-32 screw. This filled the empty space in the forend and allowed me to save $50 on a new forend, I will experiment with washers. I shot the gun for the first time and the Remington solid copper sabot slugs went into 1 1/2 inches for 3 shots at 100 yards. The Winchester partition gold shot into 2 1/2". I noticed the recoil before I was finished. Has anyone loaded the Lyman sabot slug? Shotgunner

[bsekf]

I had no luck at all with the Lyman sabot's.  Tried every powder they recommended and a couple of others.  I tried filling the base with hot glue.  I weighted and sorted my cast slugs.  I was using wheel weights and linotype 50-50.

I believe the wad material is too light.   I would recover 2 or 3 that were in good condition and in one spot.  The other 2 or 3 would be damaged and in another spot. Sometimes I couldn't even find them.   The plastic wad in commercial sabot's is very heavy material.  I only tried WinAA and Claybuster wads.

I would get 2 or 3 shots in a nice little group and then have 2 or 3 flyers.  Never got anything better than 8 inches.  I was looking for a low recoil load for turkey shoots.  It wasn't there.  The only up side, I borrowed the mould.

I hope somebody out there had better luck!

[Muddyboots]

I have custom shop 20 ga. 26" slug barrel and am thrilled with it. Didn't really like the Remingtons all that much with 4" groups at 100. Shot Winchester Partitions pretty good but really likes the Federals with Barnes Expander with legitimate 2" groups at 100. Killed 6 pt at 70 yards past season dead smack in lungs just over heart. One of the best hits on deer relative to perfect placement. Good pass through hit with great blood trail and heart and lungs "jellified" from shock. I load 12 ga. slugs but I will be hard pressed to give up the Encore in the 20. Accuracy was better than expected and is great tree stand gun for swamps I hunt. Easy to swing around and with offset stock easy to hold with slippage when cold out. Am waiting for Ballistics Products Inc. to come out with load data for the 20. They carry sabots for the 20 but no data yet. I prefer to wait for the data before I fool around with them.
www.ballisticsproducts.com

[shotgunner]

Thanks for the input. I ordered the Lyman slug mold. I am excited to hear that sabots are available, I will try them also. The Federal slug looks visious. Is your barrel 3", do the 3" slugs shoot better than the 2 3/4". At the cost of the saboted slug loads I can use all the info I can get. Thanks again, Shotgunner

[Muddyboots]

Shotgunner,
Barrel chembered for 3" but I use 2 3/4 mostly. The Federals were 2 3/4 slugs and shot great, Partitions were 3" and were OK. The Remington's were 2 3/4 and 3 and no difference in accuracy I could see. I also tried Lightfields and they shot terrible out of my gun so go figure. They shoot great out of my 12. The Federal's were around $8/box but I found them at 50% off after season at a local dept. store so I stocked up on them. Any time you can get a quality slug under $1/round you are doing good. Call Ballistics Products to hound them on data, maybe they were get it in gear if more people called them.
Muddyboots

[shotgunner]

I ordered the Lyman mold, if it doesn't work out it will be listed on e-bay soon. I ordered the sabots as well as that cool looking 410 wad-round ball slug to play with. I will let you know what I come up with. I have been told that the Lyman slug will shoot if you load it down some. Do you think that casting it very soft would make a difference? Shotgunner

[Muddyboots]

I would cast soft lead for the 20, I prefer the soft laed for slugs anyway to maximize expansion and shock. I load pure lead in my 12 and results are devastating. My son shot nice 5 pt last year with his 12 with slugs I reloaded from www.sabottechnologies.com. I am waiting for 20 ga. sabots from them but they don't have mold yet for them. When they get one, it will be awesome.